Team Effectiveness Assessment

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When a software development team is not performing at peak capacity, the cause for the ineffectiveness can be elusive. Teams may struggle for years trying to improve but never identify the changes that would make a real difference.

That is why Monkela has developed the PoSD^TM Team Effectiveness Assessment. By looking closely at the Patterns of Software Development (PoSD^TM) employed within their software development teams, organizations can uncover the real hindrances to effectiveness and take systematic steps to address each one.

The PoSD^TM Team Effectiveness Assessment catalogs over 100 hindrances to effectiveness that can affect every facet of a software development team. The facets of these hindrances fall into one or more of the following seven categories:

Predictability of Schedule
Movement / Speed
Product Quality
Tool Set
Skill Level
Individual Motivation
Interpersonal Communication

By addressing the cause to each hindrance, each of the respective facets can be positively impacted. Correspondingly, the PoSD^TM Team Effectiveness Assessment catalogs over 80 patterns of software development identified to explicitly overcome one or more hindrances. Each pattern has its own application strategy and is applied along one or more of the following six vectors:

Leadership
Ownership / Responsibility
Interaction Behavior
Development Process
Team Structure
Skill / Technique

Every team has a unique set of characteristics and may benefit from applying either a small set of these patterns or a large set. But any change, whether large or small can be difficult to undertake and can be quite disruptive. As a result, the assessment is carried out in four distinct stages.

Stage 1: Collect raw data on over 200 observation points.

Stage 2: Correlate the raw data to reveal the development patterns in use and identify the hindrances to effectiveness that are in play - along with a score for each to establish the severity within the team.

Stage 3: For each of the hindrances, identify best practice patterns specifically targeted at the identified hindrance. We have cataloged over 100 hindrances to effectiveness and over 80 best practice patterns with well established correlation between implementing the pattern and overcoming the hindrance.

Stage 4: Prioritize the application of the patterns according to both the severity of the hindrance within the team and the potential value (weight) of the pattern to improve development effectiveness. This produces a ranked action list that becomes a guide for responding to the assessment.

Typically stage 1 is carried out on site through one-on-one interviews and observing the team in action. Stages 2, 3 and 4 involve follow-up analysis and interaction with a designated team member. Stage 4 is key to the success of the assessment. It is often possible even in dysfunctional teams to apply a single pattern and achieve improvement in effectiveness. Such progress not only brings about the desired improvement, but helps create more receptivity to change so that the team is encouraged to apply additional patterns.

For any team seeking to improve effectiveness, the real value is in identifying and prioritizing the specific patterns that will increase effectiveness. However, a byproduct of the assessment is a comprehensive Team Effectiveness Score. This score helps everyone understand at a macro level how far the team has to go to get to it's ideal performance level.

Because every organization has a unique development team structure, each PoSD^TM Team Effectiveness Assessment is tailor-made for your organization. The recommendations from the assessment are clear and actionable and identify a clear outcome for taking the recommended actions.

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